Jane Lindskold Quotes

Everybody needs an editor.

Machines aren't replacing proofreaders at all. Copy editors, who proofread and much, much more, use spellcheck as a tool but read every word that appears in the paper.

What helps change bad writing into mediocre writing is editing. Editing is in bad shape in print journalism, and is in virtually nonexistent shape in online journalism.

Every book has mistakes in them, every one. There's never been a book published without mistakes.

I should mention something that nobody ever thinks about, but proofreading takes a lot of time. After you write something, there are these proofs that keep coming, and there's this panicky feeling that 'This is me and I must make it better.'

The life of an editor is not a glamorous one. You're a fixer; you make things better.

My self-editing process is intense.

I always rewrite each day up to the point where I stopped. When it is all finished, naturally you go over it. You get another chance to correct and rewrite when someone else types it, and you see it clean in type. The last chance is in the proofs. You're grateful for these different chances.

I used to work as a proofreader at Merrill Lynch.

Like all editors, I assume, I'm a reactor.

Editing is the same as quarrelling with writers - same thing exactly.

I am guaranteeing you that if you see my byline on a story, it's going to be the cleanest story you've ever read.

I'm pretty rigorous about the drafts I turn in. I don't turn in something that's so ungodly they go, 'What the hell is this?'

If you re-read your work, you can find on re-reading a great deal of repetition can be avoided by re-reading and editing.

I write the paragraph, then I'm crossing out, changing words, trying to improve it. When it seems more or less OK, then I type it up because sometimes it's almost illegible, and if I wait, I might not be able to read it the next day.

Sometimes I can spend as long revising a manuscript as I spent writing it in the first place.

A good editor understands what you're talking and writing about and doesn't meddle too much.

There are a lot of dedicated people out there that don't get the recognition that we get, but they're as important as the people that are sitting in the vehicle.

And the most important thing you can do is learn to edit yourself. And then go back and rewrite.

I draft quickly and then revise, a lot.

I'm constantly revising. Once the book is written and typed, I go through the entire draft again.

When you're editing, you want to be the perfect appreciator, not another writer.

Without editors planning assignments and copy editors fixing mistakes, reporters quickly deteriorate into underwear guys writing blogs from their den.

I'm really happy to have the chance to talk about the editing process. It's something that I think doesn't get the weight it deserves, especially with the rise of self-publishing.

I don't write a quick draft and then revise; instead, I work slowly page by page, revising and polishing.